1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk array device and a disk array device cable support method for connecting a logic board, such as, for example, a channel adapter board to an external device via cabling.
2. Description of the Related Art
A disk array device provides storage service for a host device, such as, for example, a mainframe or a server. A disk array device comprises a plurality of channel adapter boards for transferring data to and from, for example, a host device; a plurality of disk adapter boards for transferring data to and from a group of disk drives; a memory board for mounting shared memory and control memory; a power unit for supplying electrical power to these respective boards; and a battery unit as an emergency power source.
The amount of data managed by companies and municipalities is increasing year by year, and in line with this, there is demand for compact, low-priced disk array devices featuring increased capacity and enhanced reliability. As one solution for the need for such enhanced performance, methods for increasing the number of external interfaces for connecting to host devices are being considered.
For example, the number of external interfaces for a disk array device as a whole can be increased by either increasing the number of ports for a single channel adapter board, or increasing the number of channel adapter boards installed. When the number of external interfaces increases, the number of cables (for example, fiber channel cables) for connecting the external interfaces to the host device also increase.
Furthermore, although not related to the disk array device, electronic equipment wiring methods are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 7-66568 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 9-321101.
Increasing the number of ports in order to enhance performance makes the tasks of connecting and maintaining the large number of cables complicated. Also, the need to make the entire disk array device more compact is putting constraints on cabling space inside the chassis of the disk array device.
Furthermore, when a customer replaces an old disk array device with a new disk array device, the existing cables are often reused, but the locations of the ports on the old disk array device usually differ from the port locations on the new disk array device. Consequently, the user tries to forcibly pull the existing cables into position in an attempt to connect them to the new ports. However, applying unreasonable force in excess of a specified value to a cable runs the risk of the cable breaking or being otherwise damaged. The damage brought on by excess force being applied to the cable does not stop at the cable alone, but can also cause damage to the port itself. When a port is damaged, the board on which this damaged port exists must be replaced in its entirety, thereby increasing maintenance costs.
Conversely, a disk array device is a large-scale system that packages together numerous and varied replaceable functional components, such as a channel adapter board, a disk adapter board, a disk drive, a memory board, a power unit and a battery unit. Therefore, besides preventing damage to a port resulting from the cabling, the ease of maintaining the other functional components to which cables are not connected must also be taken into consideration. Thus, while there is demand to reduce the size of the entire disk array device, which comprises a large number of various types of functional components, wiring and managing large numbers of cables is no easy task.